I've set my account to cancel. So in September when my payment has run down I'll be going. Just not enough variety in the modeling lately and the new site is terrible. I feel bad because I have really enjoyed the community here. But more and more of the people I talk too are leaving.

Wow this new site is giving me a headache. So frigging bright, and all the icons are different. Also, they changed the default payment settings so I can't find the way to turn off automatic payments AND they swapped me from 48/year to 12/month and I can't change it because they're giving me error messages. So people should look into... Read More

I hadn't really looked into that since my membership just renewed last month, but I'm not sure how to tell if it's on the yearly or monthly payment plan. I clicked the 48/year bubble, I saved the changes, got no errors, and when I went back it was on 12/month again. I'm not sure if that's my actual settings, or if it's just what the form defaults too. Well, I've got a year to see that hopefully get straightened out.

Im 32 years old. I started playing D&D at age 8 with my father in 1988. He started me on 1st edition, and then moved me up to AD&D and 2nd edition, because he wanted me to have a better understanding of the game. By age 14 I had gotten a job at our church mowing lawns and shoveling off their walks before masses so that I could afford to keep purchasing the new books in the Dragonlance collection. The entire time I was growing up though, I had to deal with a problem. I liked to read. Some people might not think it was a problem, but when you went to the schools I did, it became one. Since my Dad was in the Navy we moved around a lot and I attended several different schools, in all of them I had similar problems, but it didnt get too bad until we settled down and I hit High School. It apparently was not cool to read, not at all. This lack of cool was made worse by the fact that I was naturally good at most of my classes, so I didnt have to work hard. I slacked and read instead and it pissed off the jocks, the rednecks, the cool girls and such, some of whom got better grades than I did. But something about my sitting back and reading a book about dragons just pissed em right the hell off. They made this clear. They mocked my glasses, my reading etc. They made it very clear that nobody was interested in the stuff I did. When my friend and I played Magic: The Gathering (well before Ice Age, Mirage was the newest deck I ever got) we actually had kids steal our cards and HIDE them because they got so angry we were having fun doing an uncool thing.
So whats my point?
I went to Gen Con this year (2012) for the first time and I saw 40K people, just as geeky as me. I saw cute girls in Cosplay Outfits who make a living pretending to be the characters from our fiction because they know it appeals to a wide audience, a huge audience. I saw people who defined the stereotype, massively overweight, foul smelling and incredibly obsessed about certain areas of the genres; and I saw costumed families walking around with their kids in Cosplay outfits telling them all about the cool characters they saw. It was something of a revelation. The entire childhood experience I had, growing up alone and abused for my passions, was shared by... Read More

My experience was only slightly better because I played soccer. I was in to computers, wrote a math program for my grade 7 science fair project, took AP computer science in high school as a sophomore (the rest of my class were seniors). I got beaten up more times than I care to think of because of being a nerd. While never big on comics growing up, going to NY Comic Con for the first time was a slice of heaven. While my geekiness was different than many of the people there, I was surrounded by people who'd grown up just like me. Now NYCC is one of the highlights of my year. While it's a bit of a drive down for you, I've got an extra weekend pass if you want to come.

So, my friends have been big on the Cosplay idea for the next Con we go too. They already had the plan to do A Steampunk Alice & Wonderland (which is really fitting when you think about it) and I wasn't really planning on participating because with 2 kids it can be a bit difficult to get babysitting time, yadda yadda. When I came back... Read More

nah, he's still in a 'girls are gross' phase, despite the fact that he gets along with girls quite well when he's not being put on the spot. my guess is he's overcompensating for the fact that he likes girls, and if he's anything like me, it'll last for another couple years.

Well, I've been on my new medication for a while now and I'm finding a decent balance I think. The celexa works great to remove my depression and help control the mood swings from being BPD. Unfortunately it wasn't helping with my anxiety attacks, so I had to start a new... Read More

I'm glad things are going better with your inlaws. I'm glad mine understood from the start that I was in charge, and what I say goes if they wish to continue to see their grandchild. I can't imagine where I'd be if they'd been difficult about it.

I've never figured out why medical packages cover dental so poorly - if they even cover it at all. As what is probably the most used medical service for the average person, you'd think that would be the one people need the most help with, but it's always the one that's left out.

G.TurdGeek-Tubby-Nerd
G.Turd: [noun] A socially awkward, often physically out-of-shape, individual with an obsessive knowledge base of any of a number of topics who enjoys escapism through video games, movies and books. These individuals tend to have extremely poor social interactions and a limited number of friends. Most of their communication consists of "gaming groups" and MMORPS, when not confined entirely to internet... Read More

I watched 'Red Planet' not too long ago, and that really illustrates what you're saying. They cast Val Kilmer as the nerd. Then you have other much nerdier looking characters treating him like the nerd, and the whole time I'm sitting thinking, 'dude, shut up before he snaps you like a twig!'

As for derailing the train, I'm not sure that's any better a solution.

Now, I thought you were on to something with your reasoning. in the train scenario, no matter what, someone gets hit by the train so it's a complete no win situation. but in the transplant one, there's always a possibility that another donor may appear, so there's a chance you could do nothing and things will all work out. But what if there isn't another donor? What if you make things a little more immediate? What if the 5 people only have a week left at best, and the 1 is the only compatible donor with next to no chance of finding another? now they're both equally no win situations, and yet most people would probably still give opposite answers for each situation.

I don't know. The room we spent most of the time in was geared towards 2-5 year olds. Lots of sensory play. When all the classes were going, it was actually very quiet and very few people were there. Unfortunately, it was almost $40 for the three of us, which didn't even include any of the IMAX shows.